You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
You need to be logged in to your Sky Poker account above to post discussions and comments.
You might need to refresh your page afterwards.
Comments
The thread has found its legs now. Keep it coming - it's absolutely superb.
A few points.....
1) We think, for a normal SPT, 7 weeks is more than enough time for qualification - all seats usually go within 3 weeks. For a Grand Final, yes, longer is better.
2) There are no objections within the Company to starting Grand Final Satellites....
a) Immediately after Cardiff takes place. (Late July)
b) Immediately all Cardiff seats have been won. (Likely to be late this week, early next week).
No firm decision was reached, but I think it will more likely be b) than a).
Factors to take into consideration are (is?) that there is (are?) a lot of other new, un-announced stuff, in the pipeline, & we need to balance all these things carefully so they don't cannibalise each other.
Winning SPT "tokens" to Events of players choice, rather than "the next one". I quite like that, though it produces quite awkward back-office problems, but not insurmountable. It will definitely be considered, along all the other excellent suggestions in the Thread.
However, depending on the schedules, may be worth looking at the Hippodrome at Leicester Square. I know it suffers from still being a building site and won't be opening till later in the year, but may be one for the notebook.
PS - What a wonderful description of The Vic, & some if it's (ex) regulars! Do you remember Mr "One Seat heeeeere"? I think he's in prison, now, for fraud & embezzlement!
BTW The Leeds live stream was superb, I can't praise it highly enough, more of the same would be great.
(15 points for first 1point for 15th)
DAI
2) also be good to see more hands from the outter tables on chn 865
3) also a small slot showing some action from the late night cash tables from the SPT events would be nice.
This is also what makes this site so good in my opinion. How many other sites would actually ask for your input and ideas for a tour??
Keep up the great work everyone involved in Sky Poker!!!!
Oh and ESPECIALLY loving the Ireland leg suggestion!!!!
Great thread (lol_Raise that was a cracking suggestion).
I'll give you my thoughts later on but can I just quickly say do not do London (I'm saying this as a guy who was born and lives in London). The niche the SPT has found is accessibility and friendliness to recreational players and people new to B&M poker as well as a happy community feel to the events. London casino poker rooms are still full of tilt inducing condescending regs. I know there are some everywhere but it seems to be magnified in London. To be frank, London in general just isn't friendly.
Also London accommodation is still pricey and you'll use so much accessibility for the average Sky player. You'll end up with more people coming down just for the day rather than making a weekend out of it.
If they were to become 2 day events I would like to see them still have an earlyish finish. Maybe about 11pm, Sky events are all about socialising and having a sherbert or 2. So finishing at this sort of time would leave plenty of drinking time before people go back to the hotel.
My proposed structure would be an 8k stack with only 30 minute blinds but lots of added levels...
2pm 25/50
2.30 50/100
3pm 75/150
3.30 100/200
4pm 30 minute break
4.30 125/250 + 25
5pm 150/300 + 25
5.30 200/400 + 25
6pm 1 Hour dinner break
7pm 250/500 + 50
7.30 300/600 + 50
8pm 400/800 + 50
8.30 500/1k +100
9pm 600/1200 + 100
9.30 30 Minute break
10pm 800/1600 + 150
10.30 1k / 2k + 200
11pm End of day1
11.01 Roulette...
People with TD experience would be able to estimate the amount of runners / stacks left after day1 to fit a suitable day 2 structure.
Venues.
Luton and Newcastle were my favs in terms of the criteria.
I don't agree that Thanet G Casino is a "geographical extremity" Thanet has its own airport, is only 1 hour away from London by car or on the High Speed train. The poker room seems large enough, and I believe it fits all the criteria. There is also a travelodge a few yards away. As tikay rightly points out, I may be biased because I live near Thanet but i really don't think it should be ruled out for being too far away from anywhere, or inaccessible because imo it isn't. I am happy to travel anywhere in the UK for SPTs, and have done.
Number of Events.
Happy with 5 or 6 per annum.
Tournaments.
1) The Main Event - 1 day, or 2 day?
I would prefer a 2 day event, mainly because I would prefer a slower structure. 10k chips 40 min blinds would be perfect. The final could be over 3 days with more chips.
2) Sideys - The important thing for me when i inevitably exit the main event (usually early) is that i am not just sat around twiddling my thumbs, as has happened a few times, sadly.
I would like to see dealer dealt sit and goes, organised properly. To be honest, they are usually not organised well, and not everyone gets to play. The PTP sit and goes are great but it would be nice to have these dealer dealt to allow the presenter to have more fun.
I like the idea of scheduled dealer dealt tournaments on the Friday, and at say 8pm on the Saturday.
3) Buy-in's to the Main Event.
I would be happy for this to be increased to £150 or even £200, with the final at £400/£500. Obviously increasing the appeal, as long as the satellite structures support this to allow everyone the opportunity to qualify. I would also like everyone to be given the option to buy in direct to any of the events because sometimes the satellites are just sooo painful.
4) Buy-ins to the Sideys?
Nothing too large at the legs. Maybe £20-50 on the Friday, and same on the Saturday. Could do a deepstack on the Sunday that costs a tad more.
Live Stream
1) I loved the Leeds live stream almost like being there. A technical point, but it would be nice if the window was re-sizeable. Also a chat feature would be great to allow the virtual railers to discuss hands etc!
2) Would a sort of Live Stream "feature Table" work, or do you prefer wider coverage?
A live feature table (delayed by a few mins) with hole camera would be awesome! But maybe a little too far for the legs, but i defo think this could work for the DTD final! I do like the wider coverage too, so maybe a bit of both?
Poker Pros, Celebs, 865 Presenters etc.
1) SPT 2011/12 - More, less, the same, what, which, why?
cap the number of guests to a smallish number (10-15), but yes, defo bring some big name poker pros if possible.. and errrrr... richard orford.
I would favour a poker pro over a "celeb", or journalist any day. Ok they might own me, but at least i can say played, and maybe won, a pot against Roland de Wolfe, or Devilfish for example!
Sorry for length of reply but wanted to cover all the points lol!
....what stood out in Luton was the fantastic structure to their Friday night Tourney made the Sky event the next day feel like a Velocity. Tikay will know the structure better than me but I recall 10k chips and 45 min blinds. The only downside was sitting next to Chompy for 5 hours (just joking - turns out he's a nice guy after all)
See you all in Cardiff.
Just off the top off my head I would like to see more organisation for the STT side games as ppl get knocked out.
I say this as I remember at Newcastle waiting for an STT to start and after 2 hours ppl had sat down and got back up again and their didn,t seem to be anyone from Sky taking control of it so most ppl including myself ended up playing the £30 deepstack run by Aspers, but i would have preffered to play STT,s with Sky players and presenters/analysts.
Also at Luton last year after getting knocked out early there were no STT,s available or announced so I left early
I know its come on since then and hopefully there will be more organisation for the side games when getting knocked out of the main event
I would also like to see numbers of seats increased , but obv that depends on venues
Also a slightly larger chipstack or something to make the structure last a bit longer - Maybe start the event at 12pm/1pm instead of 2pm
hi all
have been to a few spts everyones been fantastic
just too add why not the isle of wight in one of the holiday camps
i understand the travel but most camps out off season do deals with ferry tickets included
as for dealers not sure there are gcasino in portsmouth so maybe a joint venture
room no worries they all have large halls
all players staying in the holiday camp could get messy
and sorry dan no kebab shops near any
just an idea